According to Dianna Russini and Zack Roseblatt of The Athletic, the Jets want to go back to Zach Wilson as the starting quarterback, but the former No. 2 overall pick is “reluctant to step back in” and be the QB1 again.
Tiki, hoping the reports were not true, went off on the idea of an NFL player declining the chance to start.
“It is hard enough just to get here. It is a complete other level to actually have some level of success…and then there is staying here,” Tiki said. “And the only way to stay here in the NFL is to go above and beyond, even when it sucks. Whatever they ask you to do, you go do. For Zach Wilson to allegedly have some doubt about wanting to play should invalidate him from being in the NFL. Period.
“If you’re gonna tell your team - I don’t care how they treated you - if you’re gonna tell the team that employs you, and is trying to give you another opportunity, ‘No thanks,’ you have sacrificed your right to be in this league.”
Tiki doesn’t care how many chances Wilson has had. If anything, it means he should be grateful for continuing to get a chance, and declining that means “you don’t deserve to be in the NFL.”
“There are 150 guys sitting on their couches that played at small D-I colleges…that would cut off their left pinky finger to come play in the National Football League,” Tiki said. “And you’re gonna say ‘No thanks?’ Come on Zach, I hope this isn’t true.”